SRINAGAR — Police in Kashmir raided the homes of four journalists on Wednesday, triggering concerns of a further crackdown on press freedom in the region.
After the raids in Srinagar, the region’s main city, the four journalists were summoned to a local police station where they were briefly questioned but detained the whole day. Police did not specify the reason for the raids.
The journalists were allowed to go home late Wednesday but were asked to report again to the police station Thursday morning.
Earlier during the raid on their homes, police seized documents and electronic devices, including cellphones and laptops, belonging to the journalists and their spouses.
Three of the journalists have written for foreign media while one is an editor of a monthly news magazine.
Journalists in Kashmir have long worked under tremendous stress and have been targeted in the past, some fatally, by both the Indian government and militant groups.
Journalists have said harassment and threats by police increased after India revoked Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status and divided the region into two union territories amid an unprecedented lockdown in 2019.
Many journalists have been arrested, beaten, harassed and sometimes investigated under anti-terror laws.
The Kashmir Press Club, an elected body of journalists has repeatedly urged the Indian government to allow them to report freely, saying security agencies were using physical attacks, threats and summons to intimidate journalists and muzzle the press.
India’s decision to strip the region of its special status in August 2019 brought journalism to a near halt in Kashmir for months. India introduced a controversial media policy in June last year that gives the government more power to censure independent reporting.
Fearing reprisals from government agencies, most of the local press wilted under the pressure. Journalists have also come under scrutiny through anonymous online threats the government says are linked to rebels fighting against Indian rule.
The region is one of the most heavily militarized in the world. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict. — (AP)